Yankees Arizona Fall League Update: Week One

The Yankees may be done for the year, but there are still some New York prospects playing baseball. The Arizona Fall League started last week, and the Bombers sent seven players to participate—three position players, and four pitchers. It doesn’t really make sense to do daily roundups like we do during the regular season, but we will provide weekly updates until play ends in mid-November.

Interestingly, the Yankees are playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs this year, instead of the Scottsdale Scorpions. Prospects from the White Sox, Orioles, Indians, and Dodgers make up the rest of the team. Glendale happens to be off to an uninspiring 0-6 start. They are the only one of the six teams without a win under their belts. Hopefully that won’t still be the case next week. Let’s check in on how the Yankee prospects are doing so far.

Position players

All three position players have gotten off to dreadfully slow starts. If you remember, Thairo Estrada suffered a hip injury last offseason when he was shot during an attempted robbery in Venezuela. He ended up missing most of the season, so this extra time in the AFL will hopefully help get him back on track. The shortstop has collected just three hits (all singles) during his first 18 at-bats.

Fellow prospect Steven Sensley also has just three hits to his name, but two of them were doubles. The first baseman is slashing .176/.263/.294 across 17 at-bat,s and that is somehow the best hitting that the Yankees have done so far. Top prospect Estevan Florial is off to a painfully slow start with just one hit over 19 at-bats. He has three walks and eight strikeouts. There is nowhere to go but up for all three of these guys.

Pitchers

The good news is that the Yankee pitchers haven’t been quite as bad as the hitters. Kyle Zurak has been the one exception. In his first outing, he issued a walk, back-to-back singles, then surrendered a grand slam while recording just one out. During his only other appearance, he gave up two earned runs through 0.2 innings. That adds up to six earned runs through just one inning for a lovely 54.00 ERA.

The other pitcher who isn’t off to the best start is Hobie Harris. He has given up a run in each of his two outings. The right-hander has a 5.40 ERA with two walks and one strikeouts over 3.1 innings pitched. Obviously small sample size alert, but that’s what you get when you check in on players after six games.

Right-handers Jordan Foley and Matt Wivinis have fared better so far. Foley owns a 2.08 ERA through 4.1 innings. He has racked up eight strikeouts. Meanwhile, Wivinis has surrendered just one run through his three appearances. Unfortunately, he has walked five batters compared to just three strikeouts.